Purdue:Bios

From 2006.igem.org

This section has a bio for each member on the team (not all available yet):

My name is John Schumm and I am a Junior in the college of Agricultural and Biological Engineering focusing in Biological and Food Process Engineering. I am from Tucson, AZ, and in high school I realized that I want to focus my education in something that related math, chemistry, and biology. This lead me to Purdue University where I am a third generation Purdue engineer. I currently work in LORRE labs (Laboratory of Renewable Resources in Engineering) and am working on a number of different projects involving the fermentation of cellulistic material. I attend University Lutheran Church and am a member of the church council. I am also a member of Beta Sigma Psi Fraternity.

I am Dana Ziliak. I am currently in my junior year at Purdue. This past spring I officially transferred from the school of Ag and Bio Engineering in to Genetic Biology. I joined iGEM because it sounded interesting and it would give me a lot more practical experience in Genetics. Since I am a recent transfer I have limited knowledge to offer but, am willing to help out in any way that I can. I am also looking forward to participating in the competition in my future years at Purdue after I have accumulated some more knowledge on the subject and lab procedures.

Hello, my name is Aaron Young, and I will be a sophomore in the school of biomedical engineering at Purdue next fall. I have lived in West Lafayette, Indiana all of my life and graduated slightly over a year ago from Harrison High School as valedictorian. I have a variety of interests and participate in a number of Purdue organizations that correspond to these. Besides iGEM which I recently got involved with, I also participate with the biomedical engineering society here at Purdue, the Shakespeare society in which I became a founding member of this past year, and also Campus Crusade for Christ, a Christian organization that is on many campuses throughout the country. My favorite hobbies include, but are hardly limited to, hanging out with my group of friends, video games, and tennis. I am one of a minority group of people that actually enjoy school and I hope to go into graduate school and do research once I finish my undergraduate degree. My favorite academic subjects include biology – which makes sense considering I’m doing this project and entering biomedical engineering, programming, because its one of the few areas where everything is perfectly logical (well nearly), and history among others. Anyway, I look forward to working with everyone, and I hope that some of my skills will help as I’m not exactly an expert in the field we are doing, but at least I’ll have fun learning what ever I can about the project and the biology involved!

My name is Pierce Burch and I am a Senior in Accounting and Management in the Krannert School of Management here at Purdue. I am from Zionsville, IN, which is just outside Indianapolis. I came to Purdue as a Chemistry major, but found myself struggling to stay awake during lab. I switched to Accounting during my Junior year and hope to sit for the CPA upon graduation before entering Law School. I am the Senior Warden of the church I attend, Good Shepherd. I am also a tour guide at the Purdue University Visitor Information Center, of which I am one of the current oldest members.

Marianne Luu is a Genetic Biology major at Purdue University. She grew up in Carmel, Indiana. She attended Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School in Indianapolis. She enjoys doing cheerleading, playing billiards and snooker, jumping into puddles, playing table tennis, and watching football. She reads both non-fiction and fiction, attempts to speak Latin, plays piano, plays euchre, and takes too many pictures. She plans becoming a doctor, and her favorite plushie is a rhinovirus named Common Cold. She also sleeps with a puppy, monkey, Marsupilami, Scorchio, and a white rabbit. She intends to minor in Biotechnology, Spanish, French, and Psychology while at Purdue. She is quick to laugh and loves cheese. Her favorite move is La Vita E Bella, and her favorite poem can be found by reading the poetry of Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz.

Piyush Bajaj. I am currently a senior in the Weldon school of Biomedical Engineering at Purdue University. My research interests include micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS), nano electro mechanical systems (NEMS), biosensors and bionanotechnology. I am currently working with Dr. Rashid Bashir on the real time detection of DNA through nanopores. Apart from this I am also looking to characterize the surface of ultra nano crystalline diamonds and fabricating its micro-cantilevers for the detection of infectious agents like bacteria and virus. I have worked with Dr. Thomas Webster on designing implants for the bones using a novel composite of carbon nanotubes/nanofibers on polycarbonate urethane matrix. Apart from research, I like listening to music, playing tennis and cricket, swiming and watching TV. My favorite subjects include physics and chemistry and I am particularly interested in learning about celestial bodies like black holes and supernova. My favorite foods are Indian and Mediterranean. I am very adaptive and I love working in teams. I am also a car fanatic too.

Name: Azeem Kapadia Currently a senior enrolled into Purdue University, Majoring in Biological Genetics and Biotechnology. Graduating in May 2007. Spends this summer carrying out research in Cell wall Genomics at the Lily Hall of Life Sciences. Also has a fondness for chocolate chip cookies and cheesecake.

My name is John Koehler, and I am a Master’s student in Agricultural and Biological Engineering at Purdue University. I graduated (for the first time) from Purdue University in May 2006 with a Bachelor’s degree in Ag and Bio Engineering, and hopefully I will graduate (for the second time) in May 2007 with a Master’s. I am originally from Ames, Iowa, where I attended Ames High School, home of the Little Cyclones. My current research areas include nitric oxide releasing materials, nanoparticle transport across intestinal cells, and liposomes. I joined the Purdue iGEM team to learn more about synthetic biology and expand my laboratory experience into the bacterial domain. When I graduate I am planning to go into the biotechnology industry, hopefully somewhere out in California.